


I can't remember falling in love with you

by jumpernouis



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Day Dreaming, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Smut, Fear of Heights, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humor, M/M, Mild Language, Mixed feelings, Smoking, Subway, a soft rebel, artsy Zayn, harry is a nerd, harry is afraid of heights, liam works at subway, louis is a rebel, my tags are a mess, public fountains, there is some serious fluff in there, vegan!harry, ziam in the background
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-09-07
Packaged: 2018-07-26 16:39:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7581811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jumpernouis/pseuds/jumpernouis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“What Louis did know was that Harry was a beautiful and mystic creature – a bit tongue-tied and naïve, but he could already foresee the inevitable. He didn’t want to, he would force himself not to and in the end he would surrender and submit to it. It wouldn’t be an easy task, Louis was well aware about that, but in the end, falling in love with Harry would probably be one of the best things to ever happen to him.”</i>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Or the one where it’s inevitable falling in love with Harry and it drives Louis insane.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work is mostly unbeta'd, so I apologize in advance for any grammar errors or such.
> 
> Title is from McFly's "Nothing".

There was a new guy at Louis’ work place.

He had just finished his master degree in one of those courses that only pretentious rich kids attend. He would probably be this annoying Mr-know-it-all and Jesus, did that boil Louis’ parsnips – or so Louis thought.

He was going to replace Zayn’s position and Louis wasn’t particularly keen on that.  
When he first filed for a job in this store, he did it with Zayn and, lucky enough, they both got hired. It wasn’t a job that got you enough money in the bank to retire at 40 – nor at 70, to be honest – but Louis liked it, because it made him feel independent and fuelled his dreams of attending college, one day. It wasn’t hard work either. All he had to do was stand behind the counter and grant people tickets for music shows – the only time it got busier was during summer (when most music festivals take place).

‘Louis, there’s someone asking to see you,’ Ian informed him.

Ian was a good guy, maybe a too good guy, if Louis was being honest. Louis was convict that his theory about how Ian had been the one to rat Zayn out was, by no means, correct. He brushed past the main suspect on the quest _“Who the fuck ratted Zayn out,”_ otherwise known as Ian, and headed to the front of the store.

There he was, eyeing a 6-string electric guitar as if it was Da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’. Louis sighed, rolled his eyes and even considered turning his back and walking away, before finally approaching him.

‘Need help with that?’ Louis asked. The lad jumped a little at the sound, perhaps startled by Louis breaking his chain of thoughts.

‘Uh… I-uh…’ the boy stuttered. There was an awful amount of word attempts, which made Louis question if this kid would be able to even form an entire sentence before Louis’ shift was over.

‘I’m looking for uh Louis… Tomlinson? I think.’

It turned out he could indeed form an entire sentence – not mentioning the fact that he had to stop and look at his palms (twice) to say Louis’ name. God, the next three weeks would be an absolute hell. ‘Oh… right, I-I’m sorry, uh yeah um... I’m Harry.’ the boy added.

‘And I’m Louis. Nice to meet you.’ Louis said as he reached out to shake Harry’s hand and boy, did he have big hands. ‘I’ll be your mentor for the next three weeks. Follow me, I’ll show you around.’

So, that’s exactly what he did. He showed Harry the area where costumers would go for technical support, the electronic gadgets section, the books section, the music section, the café and lastly, the archive room.

‘This is almost a forbidden area, but it’s great in case you wanna light one up and relax for a bit.’ Louis nudged Harry’s ribcage with a cheeky grin. Wow height difference alert.

‘In here? This is… I mean, this is filled with uh papers and other uh… flammables…wouldn’t it be a… a bit unsafe?’ Harry looked around and yes, he was probably right and yes, Louis now understood why on Earth they had banned smoking in the archive room. Still, he wasn’t going to let Harry get the best of it.

‘Listen, one of us has been smoking in this room for 3 years, almost every single week, three times a day and the other one stepped into this room 5 minutes ago. I think I know what I’m talking about.’- If today weren’t Harry’s first day, Louis would’ve bet his life on how it had been him to rat Zayn out.

Without time to elaborate a complete thesis on _how Louis shouldn’t smoke in there_ and _how he should be very careful in that room_ and _how those were probably very important papers_ , Harry felt obligated to follow Louis through the pathways between the floor-to-ceiling shelves and exit through a similar door to the one that had led them into the room. They were now behind the counter designated to ticket sales.

‘Okay, this is where you’ll be staying for the rest of your life.’ Louis said as he shot Harry a mocking smile and took a seat in the white stool behind him. Harry mimicked the action, wriggling a little on the stool until he was comfy.

‘Right… you’ll also be here?’ Harry asked. This guy and his hesitations would definitely drive Louis insane by lunchtime. Louis gave him a nod and stayed quiet to observe him.

Harry wasn’t looking at him, but he was taking in all of the store’s nooks and crannies and trying to get his head around what he was doing there – maybe, Louis didn’t really know. What Louis did know was that Harry was a beautiful and mystic creature – a bit tongue-tied and naïve, but he could already foresee the inevitable. He didn’t want to, he would force himself not to and in the end he would surrender and submit to it. It wouldn’t be an easy task, Louis was well aware about that, but in the end, falling in love with Harry would probably be one of the best things to ever happen to him.

He would leave that in the hands of faith: if it’s meant to be, he’d gladly accept it; if it’s not, oh well.

‘L-Louis?’

Harry’s quiet voice interrupted Louis’ train of thought, and he shook his head lightly to bring himself back to reality.

‘Huh?’

‘Shouldn’t I have like… a vest… or a name tag or uh…’

‘Oh… Right. Right. I’ll be right back.’

Louis went back into the archive room to get Harry a _in training_ tag and a black vest – like the one he had on. When he returned, he found his new co-worker chatting with Ian, who looked rather impressed.

‘I see you two have already met.’ Louis commented dryly and set the tag and vest on top of the counter.

‘I was just welcoming the new guy!’ Ian presented them with a smug smile and gave Harry a soft pat in the back. This also boiled Louis’ parsnips – even though it shouldn’t because, well, he had _just met_ Harry.

‘Right. It seems to me that you have some very unsatisfied costumers waiting for you, so if you don’t mind.’ Louis shooed Ian away and picked up the vest and nametag, ‘Here, put this on. We’ll give you a proper tag if we decide to let you keep the job, in the meantime, you wear that rather embarrassing one.’

Harry already had a tag with his name, but Louis felt like making him wear the _in training_ one just for the pure fun of it.

‘I don’t think it’s embarrassing at all.’ Harry said whilst struggling to pin it to his vest – even sticking the tip of his tongue out. _God_. ‘Why don’t you like… Ian? He seems like a… uh a good guy.’

Louis performed his famous eye roll before answering that incredibly dumb question: ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover, Harry.’

Verbalizing his name felt weird – in a good way – and it distracted Louis’ mind, making it wander off and think about how his name was just like him, weird but in a good way. _So much for that witty remark_.

‘I think he’s cute.’

No way Louis had just heard Harry (a) mouth an entire sentence without hesitating and (b) say Ian was _cute_? This kid couldn’t be real.

‘You don’t wanna go down that road, mate. Ian’s boyfriend isn’t the sharing type.’ Louis warned Harry.

‘I just think he’s cute… I don’t um… I don’t want to be in a relationship with… him.’ Harry actually struggled with his words here – that put a smile on Louis’ face. But he quickly removed it, shaking his head as if he was hallucinating.

‘Okay, yeah, right. So, how’d you end up here?’ Louis changed the topic and rested one of his elbows on top of the counter. It wasn’t a very comfortable position to be in, since he was sat in the white stool, but it allowed him to look at Harry’s face from a different angle and memorize every single feature of it – not in a creepy way, of course.

‘I went to Imperial to study computing… you know, programming and all that stuff.’ Harry paused to clear his throat and organize the words scattered all around his cute lil brain – technically not _little_ because he did master in software engineering. ‘I finished this summer actually. Then I just sent out loads of CVs… but this was the best offer I got, I guess… I mean, the other offers wouldn’t pay me and I… kinda need the money.’ Louis didn’t ask _why he needed the money_ – some things you just don’t want to share with other people – so he just nodded and listened, as Harry’s slow verbalized words rolled out of his mouth.

‘That’s pretty much… it. What about you?’

Louis laughed lightly, ‘I’m here to gather money to go to college. That’s it, main goal. I kinda like it here though, you’ll like it too. I used to work here with my best friend, but then he got fired and… well, now here you are!’

‘Why was he fired?’ Harry looked like he felt guilty and it made Louis feel even more guilty for making him feel like that – wow.

‘Smoking in the archive room. Someone here complained about it and bam, Zayn got fired.’ Louis spun his stool and was now facing Harry completely. It was quiet for a while and, subconsciously, Louis started drumming his fingers against the stool’s rim.

He was thinking about his future plans. College, to be precise. His current income allowed him to pay his rent and make it through the month, comfortably. He would put a certain amount in a spare account and when he got enough money to pay his tuitions, he’d go to college and enrol in a music course.

That was his number one passion, music. It was the one thing that had been there since a very early stage of his life and the only thing he thought he could fully dedicate himself to.

The rest of the morning went on slowly with Harry and Louis exchanging a few words with each other, nothing too personal. Random sentences were stung together to form less than comfortable small talk -  _“my buddy Niall sometimes comes here to perform, he’s brilliant!”_ and  _“you ought to come have lunch with me at Subway, I can get you free sandwiches.”_  Harry seriously questioned how Louis managed to get free sandwiches at Subway, but he couldn't care less, if it meant getting to spend another half hour with Louis.

 

Said and done. Louis and Harry had signed out and retreated to the food court in the centre of the mall, vests still on, by lunchtime.

 

‘I know this guy who works at Subway and he granted me a lifetime of free sandwiches. Well, at least while he still works there, but… free sandwiches!’ Louis’ enthusiasm didn’t match Harry’s. He seemed off – a little pale too.

‘Are you alright?’ Louis asked, brows furrowed, hand on Harry’s shoulder. A firm, muscled shoulder, Louis noted.

‘Ye-yeah… just… give me a minute.’ Harry blinked a few times and grabbed a hold of Louis’ vest.

‘Do you want to sit down? Should I call 911?’ The concern on Louis' face was clear as water. He just didn’t want Harry to die on him.

‘No… I’m better now.’ Harry slowly composed himself and looked around. ‘I just felt a bit lightheaded.’

‘Maybe you’re just hungry. Let’s get us some sandwiches, shall we?’

Waiting in queues was not an activity Louis found particularly pleasurable, voicing his annoyance with groans and inaudible swear words, and a very loud, _“Just make up you're fucking mind!”_ directed at the people in front.

‘Finally!’ Louis near shouted as he made his way to the counter, Harry trailing quietly behind him.

‘Hey Payno!’ Louis greeted the subway worker with an over the counter hug and if Harry felt a twinge of jealousy in his stomach, he ignored it. ‘I’ll have the usual and… right. Harry, this is Liam. Liam, this is Harry.’

Louis moved out of the way, allowing Harry and Liam to shake hands.

‘Nice to meet you, Harry, what would you like?’ Liam asked, standing behind the bench that contained all the available fillings for the sandwiches. They all looked bloody tasty.

‘Uh… I will have the veggie delite, please.’ Louis and Liam gave Harry confused looks. He could choose from all those yummy meat loaded buns and he went for the veg and salad one. Maybe Harry wasn't as great as Louis thought. No meat? Why on earth?

‘I’m a vegan,’ Harry explained and  _oh_.

 

‘Right, well… we can't all be perfect, can we?’ Louis laughed, oblivious of the eye roll he received from Liam.

 

‘You know Louis; this whole free-sandwiches-for-life thing has to stop. I’ve got bills to pay, man,’ Liam said.

 

Harry still didn’t quite figure how Louis had managed to get such privilege. I mean, he must’ve done something  _grand_. And Harry definitely didn't acknowledge the possibility of Louis completing a sexual favour for free sandwiches.

 

‘Listen here; I did my part of the deal. Now you do yours,’ Louis said sarcastically as he reached forward to pat the boy in the head. ‘Come on, Harry.’

Saying Harry's name felt weird. It tasted funny on his tongue.  Noticing that Harry obeyed his commands like a puppy was even weirder. It was almost like Harry willingly submitted himself to Louis’ orders without so much as a batted eye. _How _submissive__.

 

They sat at a table for two, facing each other and very, very close. Louis’ knee brushed against Harry’s – maybe it was the other way around – and it sent electric shocks through his body. Louis shivered because when they touched, they created friction and it felt  _so god damn_ _good_.

 

‘Can I ask you a question?’ Harry asked, his gaze adverted from Louis’ eyes and instead focused on grabbing a hold of his sandwich without spilling it all over the place.

‘Go ahead.’

‘What granted you the free sandwich deal?’

Louis laughed – a genuine loud, belly laugh. Perhaps a bit inappropriate, since Harry blushed a bit. And no, the discovery that Harry looked ten times cuter when he blushed did not affect Louis at all.

‘Um… Liam had a crush on Zayn and he didn’t have the guts to tell him, so he asked me to set them up. What he didn’t know was that Zayn also had a crush on him, so it was pretty easy. And, as any smart man would, I made sure I got a fair share out of the bargain. Free sandwiches,’ Louis explained and bit down on his sandwich. Right now, he could feel Harry’s eyes burning into him, watching him take a mouthful of his lunch and wipe his lips, removing the onion sauce left behind.

‘Do you fancy a bit?’ He asked – judging by Harry’s facial expression, Louis could only figure he might want to taste the chicken goodness.

‘Huh… No. I’m a vegan.’ Harry turned his focus to the ice skaters in the ring next to the food court – he felt the urge to ask Louis to go for a skate with him, but suppressed it with another bite on his sandwich.

After finishing their sandwiches and with half an hour to kill, the lads were off to the balcony. Louis set his elbows on the railing; Harry didn’t have the guts to join him – they were  _40ft_  from the ground and it made the passers looks like busy ants – so he stayed a few feet away from it, but still close enough to smell Louis’ cologne.

 

Louis lit up a cigarette and was about to say something, when he noticed Harry’s absence. Well, he was  _literally_  standing behind him, but Louis wanted Harry to join him on the railing. He wanted Harry to experience the wind gently caressing their faces, he wanted him to notice how gorgeous the view was, but most of all, he just wanted Harry to be  _there_.

 

‘Come here, mate!’ he called to Harry, who didn’t seem too eager about it and politely refused the offer. Louis wouldn’t take no as an answer, so he gently grabbed Harry’s forearm and pulled him closer so that his lower abdomen was touching the fence.

Harry seemed scared – in panic, even – and Louis’ subconscious was telling him to protect him at all costs, to make him feel safe. Louis didn’t know why these thoughts were coming to mind, because he had only just  _bloody met this kid_. What he also didn’t know was that apparently his subconscious was a prick and made him look like a fool as he wrapped his arm around Harry’s broad shoulders.

 

_STUPID, STUPID, STUPID._

 

Louis tried to play it cool and patted Harry’s back before removing his arm. He took a long drag on his cigarette and swallowed most of the smoke.

‘The view is gorgeous…’ Harry mumbled in awe, looking at the mountains that stood tall in front of them.

‘I know… You should come to my place, the view is even sicker.’

Louis froze. Did he just invite Harry back to his place?

‘I mean, like, one of these days… or not. Um, should we head back downstairs?’ Bloody hell, now he was the one stumbling over his words. Oh how the tables had turned.

‘Yeah,’ Harry replied, a toothy grin spread across his face – either due to Louis’ clumsiness or because that was just the typical Harry; a mystic creature.

The rest of the day at the store was, what you could call, awkward – to say the least. Louis spent the entire afternoon, or most of it, filtering his words and trying not to vocalize any inappropriate thought that filled his mind. This mainly revolved around little self-notes about how Harry’s hair was brushed to the right or about how Harry would constantly run his tongue over his pink lips or about how Harry was so polite to every single costumer. He ended up sounding like a robot.

 

_****_

 

With Walk the Moon’s album on full blast – Louis was an indie soul – and Jamie Oliver’s cook book opened on top of the counter’s marble surface, Louis was trying to cook himself a decent dinner. He was an average cook (as long as he stuck to the recipe) and his homemade meals were good enough to make you go back for a second plate.

‘Harry would like this,’ Louis mumbled to himself before he could even process what was happening. Was he going insane? Was Harry a hypnotizer who was working his magic with Louis? ‘Cause if he was, then it was working. At full speed.

He needed to call someone.

‘Zayn! Listen bro, I think I’m going crazy,’ Louis spat into the air, whilst adding the milk and the butter to his mashed potatoes, his phone sitting next to the stove.

_‘What? Look Lou, it isn’t a good time… Me and Lia-‘_

 

‘No, like, I really lost it bro. There’s this kid, right, and he’s… he’s just… See? That’s the problem. I don’t know what he is, but I know I like it, Zayn.’

_‘Cool. So what’s the problem?’_

 

‘I don’t know.’

_‘Yeah… Listen, I’ll ring you later. I gotta go now, bye.’_

 

And Zayn hung up, leaving Louis to his thoughts about Harry and how his sanity was slipping through his hands. He thought about it vigorously and by the time he finished cleaning his kitchen, he decided he wouldn’t fall down the rabbit hole that was falling for Harry.

By the time he went to sleep, he knew all too well that it was a promise he couldn’t keep.

 

_****_

 

Upon reaching Saturday, Harry had been in Louis’ world for about a week. They had grown pretty close – inside jokes and all – and spent their free time eating sandwiches and trying to solve Louis’ quest. Well, now it was Louis  _& Harry’s_  quest.

 

‘What’s going on in there?’ Harry asked as he pointed towards the space next to the café. Harry had managed to improve his speaking skills around Louis and could now pronounce an entire sentence without having to stop. Hurray.

‘It’s probably a book signing,’ Louis replied, watching as workers set up the space so that it looked like a decent pulpit with chairs around it.

‘Wicked! I love a good book.’

‘I prefer a great video game. Do you have a favourite?’ Louis walked around the counter, Harry following closely behind – he had learned that when Louis started walking during a conversation, he had to follow him.

‘Don’t really play that much, I suppose…’ Harry tried to think of the last time he had  _played_  a video game. He only remembered the one he had programmed for his last year of college and that game… it proper sucked.

 

‘What? Are you kidding me?’ Louis led them to the video game aisle (it often had provided Louis with the most recent games in the market, for free of course.  _“They’ll never notice one is missing.”_ ) and picked up from the shelf one of his all-time favourites:  _Outlast_.

 

‘Not… really.’ Harry scratched his head and Louis almost lost his chill at the way Harry's long fingers caught in locks of his hair. Almost.

‘You know what? We’re gonna have a gaming marathon,’ Louis determined with a smile on his features. ‘And you’re gonna have the time of your life.’

Oh yes, Louis was right. Those words sounded like music to Harry’s ears. His heart was racing beneath his black vest and all he could think was how hard he had fallen for Louis. He didn’t even notice the pat on the back Louis had given him before heading back to the counter. Harry found himself unveiling the questions that formed the harsh reality about to collapse on his soul.

_What am I doing?_

_I managed to fall in love with someone I met only a week ago._

_I’ve lost control of my own feelings. I can’t even think straight when I’m next to him._

_Is it mutual?_

 

_****_

If Harry was going to end up in Louis’ apartment, then Louis would do everything in his power to make it look presentable. It wasn’t _that_ messy – just a couple of scattered clothes and an unmade bed. To be honest, if he left his apartment in the state he wished he could, he wouldn’t be able to move.

Louis made his bed with fresh sheets and all, picked up all of the clothes lying carelessly on the floor and sprayed a tad of lemon scented air freshener. The game console was set up in front of the sofa, alongside a slab of beer and a small pile all of the games Louis wanted to show Harry; there was _Outlast_ , _Grand Theft Auto_ and the latest _FIFA_.

Louis was not prepared for the upcoming hours. There were so many things that could happen - so many things that Louis wished would happen - and he definitely did not feel prepared. The pure thought of having Harry over, in his house, and playing video games seemed so intimate, almost like an exposure that Louis didn’t want just yet. He wasn’t keen on showing his emotions and talking about his feelings. He was a _lone ranger_. 

Then again, it was _just_ a gaming marathon. It’s not like Louis would end up confessing his feelings for Harry – at least he didn’t intend to, but maybe a couple of beers would do the trick.

It was almost 10pm when Harry rang Louis, asking if he could let him in. Louis, of course, obliged, pressing the button that opened the building’s door. In less than 5 minutes, the tall lad was standing behind Louis’ apartment door, waiting for him to open it.

‘Hi!’ Louis didn’t know what to say, didn’t know what to do. Should he hug him? Greet him like he did with Zayn?

Louis mentally face palmed himself because he didn’t do anything. He just backed off and gave Harry room to come in.

‘Nice place,’ Harry said as he inspected the small flat, his roaming eyes stopping when they landed on the glass walls that revealed the immensity of the world outside, dressed in a speckled dark robe.

‘The view is killer…’ There was a hint of excitement in Harry’s voice and the smile he gave Louis flung him to Cloud 9. ‘I’ve got a bit of a thing for performing… or letting the world see what they normally wouldn’t.’

Louis spluttered because surely Harry hadn’t just hinted at sex? Against Louis’ glass walls? Surely he hadn’t. The smirk on Harry’s lips told Louis otherwise.

‘Yeah… Yeah, actually. D’you wanna take a look?’ Louis closed the door and guided Harry to the small balcony.

A gentle breeze caressed their cheeks as they stepped into the warm summer night. The balcony was small – with Louis’ grill in a corner – so there wasn’t much room for them to leave distance between their bodies, or their elbows as they rested on the railing. Not that either of them wanted to.

‘Those are the mountains we saw back at the mall… and there’s the city centre. It’s really cool with all the lights on and stuff,’ Louis explained, pointing out each thing as he listed it, and Harry soaked up his every word like a sponge.

‘Breathtaking…’ Harry’s mouth was agape, his eyes darting between the mountains and the city until they landed on the night sky above them. It was splashed with little yellow lights. ‘Did you know that, uh… these stars are already dead?’

‘Morbid,’ Louis chuckled. ‘Do you wanna get back inside?’

Harry nodded and they headed to the sofa. Harry sat on the edge whilst Louis kneeled down to pick out a game. His shirt clung to his body and Harry could see the outline of Louis’ muscles – he wanted to touch them… so badly.

‘Which one first?’ Louis asked, gesturing to the wide range of games scattered across the coffee table.

‘Whatever you decide is fine,’ Harry replied. It truly was. Harry didn’t care if he was about to play the worst game in the world, as long as he would play it with Louis.

‘Alright…’ Louis mumbled and hesitated before picking up _Mario Kart 8_. He gave Harry his controller and couldn’t help but notice that Harry’s hands were stone cold in the middle of summer. Using Harry’s knee for balance, Louis pushed himself back up and onto the couch.

The game started off a bit frigid, but the two boys gradually loosened up to each other, up until the point where there was no space separating them on the sofa and they would purposely grab each other’s controllers in an attempt to distract the other. After the 10th race, Louis decided it was time for something more adventurous.

Outside, the sky had turned a dark velvet and the only source of light was coming from Louis’ TV – the perfect mood for a little bit of _Slender_.

Harry would have the first go.

‘Have you ever played this one?’ Louis asked, his hand diving into the bowl filled with Doritos.

‘Once… My best friend at college made me play it with him on Halloween. It was awful,’ Harry giggled. ‘We almost got kicked off campus for being too loud.’

‘Really?’

Louis was enjoying this side of Harry. Turns out there was more to it than just the rule-following persona that Louis had originally seen.

‘Yeah… It was awesome though, you know, seeing- OH FUCKING HELL,’ Harry shouted as he caught a glimpse of the Slender man on the screen. 

Louis cracked up at Harry’s reaction. ‘Should I grab some diapers for you, baby boy?’

‘Ha-ha, very funny.’ Harry rolled his eyes but really, it was funny. He loved Louis’ teasing. Despite being at his own expense, it made him feel loved.

As the night disappeared before their eyes, so did the beers and Doritos. The console was switched off at 3am, the boys too busy talking to pay much attention to the game.

Harry’s lips moved distractedly as he went on about how much he loved animals and how he wanted to volunteer for the RSPCA, yet, all Louis could focus on was how Harry looked under the dimmer light of the full moon that streamed through the glass wall.

They were both _tipsy_ and their words slurred. Their minds shared the same thoughts and they voiced the same opinions, and all of a sudden, the room went quiet.

  
Merged into the silence of the night, the two lads found themselves staring at each other in utter awe. Louis could see his blurred reflection in Harry’s watery green eyes and he didn’t know how – or when – they got this close. Close as in close…he could smell his hair shampoo.

Harry giggled, turning his face away, breaking the silence and the connection of their gazes.

‘What?’ Louis asked, a smile on his face.

Harry’s eyes focused back on Louis.

‘I was just thinking… that it would be awful if one of us sneezed right about now.’

Louis laughed – because Harry was so pure and innocent and because, well, one of them would be covered in snot.

They continued laughing – in sync – without a proper reason to. They just felt happy and content to be around each other. It was like nothing bad could ever be cast upon them; there wouldn’t be dark days for them, or days when the sun struggled to shine. In between all the silly laughs, Harry had fallen – if it was purposely, no one needed to know - into Louis’ lap. His head was resting on Louis’ thighs, eyes staring up at the most beautiful boy he had ever seen.

Everything froze again. Harry was the only thing Louis could concentrate on, ignoring the annoying alarm clock that had gone off (apparently, it was 6:30am). His heart was telling him to go for it, but his brain was playing the _“oh no, you shouldn’t! Think about the consequences!”_ part. It might have been too late, though.

Louis leaned down until his nose was against Harry’s cheek – it was an awkward position to share such a beautiful moment. He could feel the heat emanating from Harry’s mouth and it made him even more determined to close the gap between them. So he did.

It was kind of clumsy at first, messy and nervous, but Louis placed his hands on Harry’s cheeks, pushing the boy into a sitting position, never breaking the kiss.

Their lips fit together perfectly, like puzzle pieces. Breathy puffs of beer and Doritos mingled between their mouths, but it didn’t faze them. The moment was perfect.

Until Harry started chuckling against Louis’ lips and pulled back. ‘I really need to sneeze.’

He did in fact sneeze. Louis laughed, his head still spinning from the rush Harry’s lips had provided him. He didn’t have a single care in the world right now. He just wanted to lay there next to Harry and cuddle all day.

Suddenly, something triggered inside Louis’ brain. They were both half-drunk. What if Harry didn’t even have feelings for him? What if it was just the alcohol in action?

Harry had moved to his previous seat on the couch and was staring at Louis with such fondness and adoration that made him look like a kid in a candy shop. Louis would have returned the same look if only his eyes didn’t land on his alarm clock on the bedside table.

‘Shit.’

It read 7:11am, meaning they were already late for work.

‘What is it?’ Harry’s face showed genuine concern.

‘We’re late,’ Louis informed him, a playful smile tugging at his lips.

Harry’s face went blank. ‘Are we gonna get fired? I’ve never been late before.’

‘No, silly,’ Louis laughed – partly because Harry’s frightened face was way too cute and partly because he couldn’t believe Harry had never been late for work. ‘We’ll call in sick and we can spend the day out, doing something fun. What do you say?’

‘I don’t know… Isn’t it kind of fishy if we both fail to show up and use the same excuse?’

‘Well… Use another excuse. You’re the trainee, they’ll cut you some slack.’ He smiled at the lad and stood up to pick up his phone.

‘Are you sure we won’t get in trouble? I mean… I don’t want you to be fired and all that…’

‘Relax, Harry,’ Louis set his hand comfortingly on Harry’s shoulder. ‘Everything will be fine.’

_****_

They headed out of the building, heat splashing their faces, reminding them that it was warm outside, unlike the inside of Louis’ apartment where the AC was on full blast, drying away the pools of sweat that had formed during their nap.

They walked – Louis’ house was practically midtown – towards a coffee shop, ordering their drinks and finding a cosy table to sit at.

‘Louis?’

Hearing his name, Louis looked over his shoulder and saw his friend, Niall, standing a few steps behind them.

Louis grabbed his cup and turned to Niall. ‘Niall! I haven’t seen you in so long, man.’

Harry’s radar noted that Louis wasn’t within his personal space, sending Harry into a visual scan around the rather full establishment, before finally encountering Louis, who was chatting with a blond lad. Harry shuffled over to the lads, catching the end of a conversation.

‘She gave you her number? You never fail to surprise me, _Neil_ ,’ Louis remarked and felt Harry’s presence next to him.

He felt obliged to introduce him, but then again, he didn’t know _how_ he would introduce him. Would it be (a) Oh, this is Harry, my friend; (b) This is Harry, whom I sort of have a crush on; or (c) This is Harry. Louis worried that he would offend Harry with the first two choices, so his mind was set on the latter.

‘Neither do you! Hi, I’m Niall.’ Apparently Niall did the job himself, reliving Louis from his inner struggles.

‘I’m Harry. Nice to meet you,’ Harry and Niall shook hands and Louis remained static, the heat emanating from his coffee cup burning his fingers.

‘Do you guys wanna sit?’ Niall gestured towards an empty booth, eyebrows raised in interest.

‘Sur-,’ Harry began.

‘No,’ Louis cut Harry off. ‘We were just leaving, actually.’

‘Oh… I’ll see you around, then,’ the boy offered them a smile and walked to the booth he had mentioned.

Louis and Harry headed out of the shop and onto the paved sidewalk, heading nowhere in particular.

‘Why didn’t you want to sit with Niall?’ Harry asked.

He had heard Louis ramble about how Niall was such a good singer, a good guitar player, a good lover, and just a good kid in general; and meeting Niall – even if it was just for a brief 20 seconds – showed Harry that Louis wasn’t lying about him. He really seemed like a great person to be around. So why would Louis refuse to sit and chat with his long date friend?

‘I don’t know…’ Louis did know; he didn’t want to waste this precious day. He would spend it with Harry and _only_ Harry. Of course it pained him, having to turn down Niall, but it was for a good cause, right?

Harry consented.

They headed to the park, the conversation between them was easy and rested – nothing too complicated or forced, unlike the hazy mess in their minds. Silence settled as they sat on the fountain’s rim, the coldness coming from the constant splashing water contrasting with the heat provided from their coffee cups. Louis dipped his hand in the cold water and whirled it, observing the water moving slowly around it.

‘Louis,’ a deep voice broke Louis’ entertainment and when he looked up, he discovered that Harry had also been observing the way that Louis’ hand moved effortlessly underwater.

Louis hummed and focused his eyes on Harry’s glittery green ones; back when Louis was around 7, his grandfather took him to the zoo and told him, _“The most colourful animals are also the deadliest ones, son.”_ , and now that he was staring deeply into Harry’s eyes he realized that his grandfather had been right all along.

‘Sorry… what?’ Upon seeing Harry’s expectant face, Louis realized he hadn’t caught on a single word that this beautiful young man had pronounced.

‘I said… uh, nothing… just a random comment.’ Harry answered, looking rather disappointed, which made Louis’ heart shrink to the size of a tiny ant.

He didn’t know if he should press on the subject or if he should just drop it. Good god, was it that hard to just listen to the kid? _Yes_. Everything about him was a distraction – from the way he moved his hands when he talked, to the way the tip of his nose moved along with his lips. Harry was indeed _the deadliest_ animal Louis had ever seen.

His hand was starting to feel numb, so Louis removed it from the fountain’s water and splashed the tiny droplets of water onto Harry’s upper arm. The lad chuckled quietly and looked up at Louis’ face.

‘About last night…’ Harry started, his eyes still trained on Louis’ face.

Louis remained silent, his hand reaching once more towards the crystal clean surface. He didn’t want to talk about it, didn’t feel prepared to do so. It happened – there was no way of changing that, so why go around and discuss a kiss that would either make or break the newly formed bond between them?

‘I just… I just need to know how you, like, how you feel about it.’ Harry pressed on it and it made Louis sigh profoundly.

He eventually gave in, ‘You want to know how I feel about the fact that we kissed? Well Harry, we were tired and a bit merry and you were there and I was there and…’ Louis paused searching for the right words to verbalize how he felt; but the truth is he didn’t even know how his heart and his brain were coping with last night’s events.

‘It doesn’t matter. How ‘bout you?’ Louis concluded looking over at Harry’s hands, crossed over his thighs.

‘I… I liked it. I just think it’s too soon to make that into a big deal. Like you said, we were both a bit merry.’ Harry’s answer sure did surprise Louis. Yes, it was way too soon to give that kiss any significance – they had been in each other’s life for a week – but maybe it was the matter-of-factness that Harry applied to those words that made Louis’ heart sting a little.

Louis nodded, focusing on his hand performing a beautiful ballet underwater. Right now, all he wanted was to retreat home and process all of the thoughts floating on his mind. Louis needed time to clear out his head and figure what kind of magical element that was making him so attached to Harry.

‘Louis,’ Harry’s voice broke the silence that had been stretching between them. Louis didn’t look up though; he waited for Harry to continue what he had to say, ‘I hope this doesn’t mean we can’t be friends anymore. I…. uh I really enjoy your company.’

This was boiling Louis’ parsnips and not in a good way. He wasn’t the let’s-talk-about-our-emotions type, which made this conversation 100 times worse for Louis’ side.

‘Let’s drop this, shall we?’ Louis offered Harry a smile (it came out rather ironic even though Louis hadn’t meant it – kinda) and stood up, the younger lad mimicking his moves.

They stared at each other for a while, stretching out the awkward moment as numerous thoughts rushed through their minds. Louis had never been in this situation, he had never been one to cry over spilt milk, but right now he couldn’t get past Harry _friendzoning_ him just moments before. Not that he cared. He was the one who said that they shouldn’t shine such a bright light on the little mouth on mouth action shared the night before and therefore should be happy – no, thrilled that Harry took the situation with such ease.

‘I think I’m heading back to work,’ Harry announced, his eyes bouncing on Louis’.

Louis nodded at the ground, shoving his hands in his jeans’ pockets and regretting it just a bit because his hand was still damp from him playing in the water just minutes ago.

Another awkward silence fell between them and Louis’ brain clicked, realizing that Harry, the mystical creature, wasn’t probably the brightest when it came to dissolving tension during social situations, so he took matters into his own hands.

‘I’ll see you around, then’

He turned, not even waiting for a response from Harry, mostly because he was angry at him. Angry because he had planned to spend the day with Harry and even though they had bumped into a very uncomfortable – yet unavoidable – situation, Louis was willing to look past that and still have a great time with this boy that managed to get a hold of his heart within a week time span. And betrayed, Louis felt betrayed because the reason behind the fact that they wouldn’t spend their day together was Harry preferring to go to work instead of being around this mess of a boy, whose feelings were starting to overtake him and Louis couldn’t do it anymore. He couldn’t hide the fact that Harry – that son of a bitch – had made Louis fall in love with him so fast and so dangerously that now he was on the verge of crying.

But Louis would be damned if he was going to cry in public, let alone crying over _a boy_. He walked away, no destination in mind, just needing to set a distance between them, and fished out his pack of smokes from his pocket, lighting one of the sticks.

He looked back at the fountain and noticed that Harry was already gone. Louis cursed lowly, wishing that he could get Harry out of his mind with that easiness.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I decided to continue this and turn it into what I had originally planned. It's unbeta'd and I apologize for any mistakes or anything like that.
> 
> Enjoy!

Louis walked out of the archive room, straightening his vest and took a seat on the white stool behind the ticket counter.

This day had started off incredibly early, after Louis growing tired of tossing and turning in his bed, the sheets all tangled up around his bare legs, and heading for the shower before the clock read 5am. He felt relaxed under the showerhead, the cool water droplets on his body washing away the small layer of sweat that had formed on his skin during the time he had stayed in bed.

When he returned to the kitchen, he was already fully dressed and clean. Louis glanced outside and watched as the rays of sun started to peek through the mountains, announcing a glorious sunny day ahead. With a yawn he started making himself breakfast, pouring cereals and milk on a bowl and sat on the counter stool, reaching for his phone.

 _No news from Harry_. Not that he wanted there to be any news from the lad. He just couldn’t explain the fact that it made his insides twist and evoked this feeling of emptiness inside him. Louis rolled his eyes at his phone, setting it back on the counter and turning on his stool to watch tv.

After rinsing up his bowl and brushing his teeth, Louis headed out.

Now, he was sat behind the counter, his eyes lazily inspecting the store and the small amount of costumers in there – mostly people who sat at the small café. He hadn’t seen Harry yet, but he was looking forward to. Setting his elbow on the counter and using it to support his head, Louis thought about seeing Harry and spending the day sitting next to him. They would probably fall in the biggest awkward silence ever and their actions would be almost robotic, just avoiding the trouble of - _God forbid_ – touching each other.

Harry came in at exactly 10 o’clock, putting on his vest and shutting the archive room door behind him as he stepped next to Louis and took a seat on his stool. He threw Louis a throaty _Good morning_ , which really did nothing to help Louis’ condition right now.

If nothing it made his mind wander off and think about how Louis longed to hear Harry’s voice in the quiet of his room, with their limbs tangled and puffy breaths escaping each other’s mouths – and thinking about _that_ didn’t help Louis at all.

_Get your shit together, man._

‘Louis?’

‘Yeah?’ Louis replied, turning his head a little too fast which made the muscles in the back of his neck scream in discomfort, but all was forgotten when his eyes landed on Harry for the first time that day. The bastard had the most beautiful lips Louis had ever seen in his entire life and the way he was biting at the inside of his cheek almost erupted a moan out of Louis’ own lips. _Almost_.

‘How are you?’ Harry asked and he really did mean it. He could see the tiredness replacing the usual vibrancy in Louis’ eyes and he noticed he hadn’t shaved that morning therefore presenting the younger boy with a mighty stubble that made it very hard for Harry to concentrate on the conversation and not on the feelings arousing in the pit of his stomach.

Louis pulled a face at him before scratching the back of his neck, trying to subdue the tension that had formed there – the gesture didn’t go unnoticed on Harry’s eyes.

‘I’m fairly good,’ he replied, ‘Yourself?’

‘I’m alright. I was… I was just wandering if we were cool after, you know… yesterday,’ Harry said and when he noticed Louis rising his eyebrows at him, he continued, ‘You kind of stormed out of the park and I…’, he let the sentence hang in the air, hoping that Louis would catch on and read every unsaid word hanging from that sentence.

He did caught on and he wasn’t too thrilled about the way Harry put it, saying _he_ had stormed out of the park. Well, what was he supposed to do? Ask Harry if he wanted him to escort him back to the store?

‘There’s nothing to worry about,’ Louis tried to sound as nonchalant as possible, ‘Let’s just move past that.’

Harry gave him a small nod and the conversation died there, with the boys not exchanging a single word up until lunchtime, when Louis started taking his vest off and walking into the archive room. Harry followed.

‘Are you going to Subway?’

‘Most likely,’ Louis replied, hanging his vest on the hanger next to the door.

The taller boy acknowledged with another nod and the conversation died again. Louis sighed heavily through his nose and walked out of the room, crossing the store and heading for the lift. Once inside, Louis watched himself in the mirror and today definitely wasn’t one of his best days. His hair was spiking up everywhere and Louis made an effort to set it all to the side, trying to form his usual quiff. The bell rang announcing the lift had come to a stop and Louis rolled his eyes at his reflection before stepping out and walking the short distance till Subway.

Liam wasn’t the one behind the counter which meant no free sandwiches and when Louis started feeling up his jeans’ pockets he came to the miserable conclusion that he had left his wallet back at the store.

‘Fantastic…’ Louis breathed out and turned to make his way for the lift, again.

He felt his phone buzzing against his leg and fished it out, a smile spreading on his lips when he read _Zayn_ in the caller ID.

‘Zayn!’

_‘Hey Tomlinson, forgot something?’_

‘Yeah, actually. I forgot my… Wait,’ Louis stopped in his tracks and looked around, ‘How do you know I forgot something?’

 _‘You never believed me when I said I had psychic abilities, you must be feeling pretty stupid right now,’_ Zayn said and Louis heard a laugh in the background – probably Liam.

‘If you really have psychic abilities then you wouldn’t need me to tell you what I forgot.’

_‘Oh, bullseye kiddo. Come on over, me and Liam are in the food court having lunch, we’ll treat you to it.’_

‘Alright, tell Liam to get up on the table so that I can locate you,’ Louis joked, looking around the tables spread on the food court. Maintaining the call with Zayn, he started walking towards the table where he had easily spotted them.

‘Hello ladies,’ Louis announced when he reached the couple sitting at a table nibbling on some delicious looking burgers and took a seat right across from Zayn, Liam sitting on his left side.

‘Forgot your wallet?’ Liam asked, slurping on his drink.

‘I didn’t think I would be needing it, because a deal with a certain someone has pushed the necessity of carrying my wallet for lunch into the back of my priorities list,’ Louis replied, snatching a couple of chips from Liam’s tray.

‘I got it,’ Zayn said with a laugh and handed Louis £10.

Louis stood up, took the money and patted Zayn on the back before retreating to get his food. He wasn’t gone for too long, settling back down on the table with his tray containing three slices of pizza and a drink and sliding the change in Zayn’s direction.

‘So, what’s up, stranger?’ Zayn smiled at Louis, leaning back on his chair.

Louis shrugged. There wasn’t much to say – not now at least, in this crowded environment where he couldn’t vent about all the turmoil inside his head.

‘How’s that boy? Um… Harry, isn’t it?’ Liam looked at Zayn for confirmation and Louis frowned. He had forgotten that Liam had already met Harry and, of course, had to go and tell Zayn all about it. Goddamn these couples.

‘Fine, I guess. We had a bit of a fall out,’ Louis answered truthfully and bit down on his slice, ‘So, am I interrupting like, a date or something? A romantic escapade?’

Both Liam and Zayn laughed as Louis wiggled his eyebrows at them.

‘At a mall? Come on man, you know I’m way better than that!’ Zayn scoffed at Louis, ‘We stopped for lunch after spending the entire morning at the gallery.’

‘The gallery? So it is a date!’ Louis raised his hand for emphasis, but after seeing Zayn shaking his head he urged, ‘Go on then, I don’t have all day. S _ome_ of us have to go back to work.’

‘We went there for a meeting with the director,’ Zayn revealed, ‘I got a call the other day, they said they were interested in my work and we met up today to discuss the details.’

There was a pause that stretched out no longer than a minute before Louis’ brain assembled all the pieces together, ‘You scored an exhibit, didn’t you?’

Zayn’s grin widened and Louis felt an immense happiness cross him. He had only seen a couple of sketches drawn by Zayn (which took Louis almost having to rip them out of Zayn’s hands, because the boy was so private and shy about his art – but Jesus, was he talented) and he knew that this exhibit would be the best thing to happen to his mate. Although Louis knew that if he asked, Zayn would say it was Liam.

‘Well, congratulations lad!’ Louis reached over to shake Zayn’s shoulder in a friendly manner.

‘It’s all thanks to Liam,’ Zayn said, looking over at Liam with the most love-sick eyes that Louis had ever seen. If he didn’t like them so much, he would’ve gagged right on the spot.

‘He was the one who took one of my paintings to the gallery which led to that phone call. Now they’re having me paint three walls for the exhibit, next weekend. I sure hope to see you there.’

‘I wouldn’t miss it for the world, man. I’m really proud of you, I truly am,’ Louis smiled at his friend, ‘And Liam, I never thought I’d hear these words come out of my mouth, but… you did a good job.’

‘What was that? Say it again please, I want to record it and set it as my alarm clock,’ Liam feigned to having misheard Louis and the group shared a couple of laughs, before Zayn slipping into a more serious tone.

‘He _did_ do a good job. If it wasn’t for him, I’d still be working in that store.’

‘Wait, what? I thought you had been fired for being caught smoking in the archive room,’ Louis inquired and after seeing the glances Zayn and Liam had exchanged between them, his brain assembled the second puzzle in that half hour, ‘Liam was the one who told you to quit?’

‘Louis, it’s not like that. I didn’t _tell_ him to quit, I advised him about what would be best for him,’ Liam explained, ‘No offense, but Zayn is way too talented to spend the rest of his life working at that store. I just gave him a push in the right direction.’

‘No, no no no,’ Louis shook his head, ‘That is not what’s bothering me right now. Did it ever cross your mind to let me in on the truth? You had to go ahead and fucking _lie_ to me?’

Louis felt betrayed. His two best friends in the world, the people that were almost like family to him, had lied about something so simple, yet so big and all because of what? _Fear_ that Louis wouldn’t understand the situation? Or perhaps _guilt_ , because they didn’t want Louis to feel abandoned? Whatever it was that had driven the boys to lie was not making its way past their lips, as all three of them sat in silence with Louis’ words still ringing in their ears.

‘Did you know that I was invested in this little quest called _“Who the fuck ratted Zayn out”_ , trying to figure out a culprit, accusing innocent people when it had been Zayn who had ratted himself out all along,’ still not getting any word out of the boys, Louis slammed his hands on the table, ‘Why did you lie?’

‘Louis, calm down for a minute,’ Zayn finally spoke up, ‘You’re making it look worse than it really is. I understand that we lied and we shouldn’t have, but who’s to say that you wouldn’t have this exact reaction if I told you I was quitting my job?’

‘That doesn’t even make sense! Of course I wouldn’t react like this, I _would_ understand. Hell, I would support you, like I always do,’ Louis shook his head, still not believing the poor excuse that had been delivered his way. He was bouncing his leg quickly under the table and he bit his lip to avoid saying anything that would potentially cause major damage in their friendship.

‘You know what?’ Louis stood up, ‘I don’t care. Congratulations on your achievement,’ and as Louis turned to leave, he swore he hadn’t meant for that last bit to come out as sarcastic as it had. He couldn’t help it though. _His best friends._

He was back at the store in less than 10 minutes and he found Harry in the archive room, going through a box of invoices. Louis was still fuming and it caught Harry’s attention, who just stood there watching as Louis put his vest back on. When he was about to walk through the door towards the counter, he felt Harry’s long cold fingers on his forearm and he stopped dead on his tracks, closing his eyes to avoid all the thoughts that the feeling of Harry’s hand on him had summoned to the front line of his brain.

‘Is everything okay?’ Harry asked, concern blending in on his voice.

The shorter one turned around, knocking Harry’s hand out of the way in the process, ‘Yup.’

‘Doesn’t look like it.’

Louis sighed, reaching for the pack of cigarettes he kept in his jeans’ pocket and a lighter. He walked the short distance between the door and the first row of shelves, sliding down until his arse collided with the cold tiles on the floor and lit a cigarette, drawing his knees closer to his chest and resting his elbows on top of them.

‘Do you want to talk about it?’ Harry asked, still standing in the same spot where he had touched Louis just minutes ago.

Lolling his head back, Louis submitted to all the feelings rummaging through his head and suddenly it all felt too much for him to handle – the severe lack of sleep, his animosity with Harry, the shocking discovery of a small lie that somehow managed to burn a hole through his heart and the guilt he felt for letting _that_ get in the way of his controlled demeanour. But seeing Harry standing there, concerned about him and waiting for Louis’ approval to talk, even though it was as clear as water that he was a mess, an _emotional mess_ , made him want to kick himself for losing control of his emotions so easily and showing such weakness before someone.

‘I’m fine,’ he said, his head still leaning against the shelf, cigarette slowly burning away in his hand. His voice had come out so raspy and low that it almost didn’t sound like him.

Harry noticed that too. He saw that Louis had put up his front and it was needless to say that he wasn’t going to get a word out about what had made such a dint in him – at least not now. So he set the box he had been going through back on the shelf and grabbed his vest, exiting through the door and towards the counter, leaving Louis to himself in the archive room.

Louis sighed loudly when the door closed behind Harry. It wasn’t his intention to push Harry away like that, he didn’t want to throw any more wood into the fire rumbling between the two, that kept pushing them apart from each other, but that was exactly what he had done. He could’ve forced himself to be nicer, to be able to control his behaviour and not let the emotions boiling inside of him affect it. He was _failing_ himself and Louis couldn’t understand _why_ he was reacting this way, when he had gone through worse – _much_ worse – and it still didn’t manage to stun him.

Shaking his head, Louis flicked off the ashes of his cigarette on to the trash can next to the shelf, bringing it back to his lips. He searched for his phone and noticed Zayn, as well as Liam, had left him a couple of texts. From what Louis could read on the notification panel, the texts said pretty much the same thing, all based on how they were _sorry_ and _hoped they could work this out_. Louis rose to his feet, discarded his cigarette in the bin and walked through the door towards the counter.

‘Harry, you are so efficient. I’m glad we have you here,’ the ginger head also known as Ian stood leaning against the counter, exchanging words with Harry.

When Louis closed the door behind him, both the lads looked his way and watched as he lazily took a seat on the white stool and crossed his arms overs his chest.

‘Well… um, it’s nothing. It had to be done, so I figured… why not,’ Harry refocused his eyes on Ian, chuckling softly.

‘I wish everyone around here shared your way of thinking,’ Ian’s eyes were still on Louis, who was biting his tongue, trying to stay quiet as several _hints_ were being thrown his way, ‘We’d get things done in a heartbeat.’

‘What’s your fucking problem?’ Louis spat out.

‘My problem?’ Ian laughed, ‘I was just commenting on how we could all use some of Harry’s initiative. He spent his lunch break organizing the receipts in the archive room, something you should’ve done a long time ago.’

Louis’ heart sunk, thinking about Harry spending his lunch break in that cold dark room, going through all those papers _alone_ and the guilt he was already feeling prior to this moment, came rushing in.

‘It’s okay. I did it because I wanted to,’ Harry added, fully aware of Louis’ state of mind right now.

‘Don’t worry, Harry,’ Louis soothed the younger lad, because he shouldn’t have to justify his actions to anyone – especially not to that prick standing in front of him, ‘As for you, _Ian_ , last time I checked, you weren’t the one in charge around here, so why won’t you turn the fuck around and walk over to your little station, where you should have been all along?’

‘Don’t get all feisty on me, you know damn well that I’m right,’ Ian replied and threw Harry a smile before walking away from the counter.

This was definitely not being a good day for Louis. He was pumped up with the adrenaline that all those bottled up feelings were providing him, but at the same time, his eyelids were getting heavy and his vision blurry due to the lack of sleep. On top of that, he still had five work hours ahead of him. He felt like dying. Throwing his elbows up on the counter, Louis rested his head on his hands and closed his eyes for a second.

‘Louis,’ Harry whispered, ‘I know something’s wrong and you don’t have to share it with me, but please, just go home and work it out. I’ll stay here and cover for you.’

Louis didn’t look up. Mostly because he felt a bit more relaxed just by having his eyes closed, but also because he didn’t know what would happen if he looked up into Harry’s face right now. Hearing the concern on his voice and realizing he had already acquired the capacity to pierce through Louis’ front caused goose bumps to erupt on his skin and he had to fight down the urge to tell Harry _everything_ about his inner battle, in the hopes that he would somehow make it die down and bring back Louis’ inner peace, cradling him in his arms and whispering words of comfort on his ear.

He was losing it again; Louis was letting his self-control slip through the tips of his fingers and that wasn’t something he was supposed to let go off. No, he had to keep up his somewhat controlled self, at least just a couple more minutes.

Louis finally nodded curtly at Harry, after what felt like ages since he had last spoken and stood up, ready to leave the store and reach his flat as fast as he could. Once he got there, Louis tossed his keys, wallet and phone on the countertop and landed face first on his bed.

It all came back, all the feelings he had been trying so hard to let go off just moments before, and right there, in the vast quietness of his room, Louis was able to see through the whole situation with such clarity and logic that he was able to regain his composure and sat up in his bed.

It hadn’t been Zayn’s lie that had troubled him throughout the day; it was the feeling of _rejection_. Harry, by suggesting that they should treat the kiss as something casual, made Louis feel rejected and ashamed of himself, because his naïve mind was clinging to the chance that _maybe Harry would want something more out of this_ , even though Louis himself wasn’t willing to reveal that he, deep down, wanted to make that kiss the most important thing that had ever happen – like a worldwide event, something that should be registered in History textbooks. Being around Harry only served as a constant reminder of the way Louis had grown to feel for him, combined with the force it took him to try to push that fondness away – and it was _killing_ Louis. Not literally, but it the most tragic literary way.

Gathering himself up from the bed, Louis walked towards his phone, picking it up and sending a quick text asking Zayn if he could come over, preferably by himself. A couple of minutes later, the boy replied with a simple _“Be right over”_ and Louis sighed, looking over at the quick darkening sky outside.

Zayn was quick to get to Louis’ flat and they were now leaning against the rail in the balcony, each of them with a beer in their hands.

‘I’m still pissed at you for lying to me, but the way I reacted earlier might have been just a _tiny_ _bit_ dramatic,’ Louis said, making Zayn laugh.

‘A bit? You were a full on drama queen.’

‘You can blame Harry for that,’ Louis replied, sipping on his beer bottle.

Zayn didn’t understand how Harry could have anything to do with this. From what Liam told him, he was just a friend Louis had gone to lunch with, a couple of days ago.

Seeing the confusion on Zayn’s face, Louis explained, ‘Harry and I… I invited him over and things were going great and we ended up kissing. The next day, I had planned to just be around him and figure out what was it that I felt for this kid – who I have known for _less than a month_ , do you understand my frustration, Zayn?’

Zayn nodded and Louis continued, ‘God, you know I’m not big on the whole feelings thing, but Harry wanted to talk it out, _discuss_ that kiss. I wasn’t ready to do that, I mean, how could I when _I_ didn’t even know how I felt about that? The worst part is that I found myself hoping he would turn it into some sort of a fairy tale and… I don’t know, Zayn, I truly don’t, but when he said we shouldn’t make a big deal out of it, my heart sunk.’

Louis was finally letting it all out and he was thankful that Zayn didn’t interrupt him; now was his time to vent and like always, his friend was there to listen to every single thing Louis would be willing to confide in him.

‘I’m not used to being taken over by my own emotions, but that hit me like a truck, man. Now I don’t know what to do, because I have to be around _him_ every day.’

‘Lou, you need to let it go. It was a kiss, you’ve done that before and I’ve never seen you come out of something like that so injured.’

‘Yeah, well, because the other times I didn’t feel what I feel now.’

‘So, you’re… in love with Harry?’

‘Zayn, I honest to God will punch you if you ever say that again.’

‘But that’s what’s happening, isn’t it? Why else would it affect you like this?’

Louis pondered. Zayn had to be sure of what he was talking about, he was an expert in that topic (Liam and Zayn were a pretty good portrait of what true love is) and Louis knew he was right; he _had_ to be.

‘Shit,’ Louis mumbled, running his free hand through his hair. Next to him, Louis felt Zayn straightening up and, a second later, his hand patting him on the shoulder before retreating back inside.

It was official, Louis _was_ in love with Harry and it only took him an entire afternoon feeling like he was going to die to realize it. Louis’ grandpa’s words had never sounded more true, _“The most colourful animals are also the deadliest ones, son.”_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work is probably going to have 2 more chapters or something like that, so if you are liking the story so far, stick around for the upcoming chapters!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! 
> 
> Like the rest of the work, this chapter is unbeta'd, but I've been trying my best to proof read everything and make it all nice and cute for you. 
> 
> There are references to Irish folklore - since I'm not Irish, my knowledge comes from online research, so if I got something wrong, please do mention it.

‘This is the second time you don’t show up to work, Tomlinson, and we’re talking this week _only_ , because I’m not even going to mention the other times you came up with the most colourful justifications for your absences,’ the store manager, Lily, scolded at Louis, resting her hands on top of the ticket counter.

‘Yes, I know, but yesterday I was in no condition to work. Unless you wanted me to start screaming at everyone who came here,’ Louis replied, well aware that he was walking on very thin ice.

‘Harry confirmed it, yes,’ Lily nodded, ‘The point is, you can’t afford to show up when you want to. You’re either here every day or you’re not,’ she paused to make sure her words were causing its desired effect on Louis, ‘Now get to work.’

She walked away and Louis watched, unconsciously drumming his fingers against his thigh. He was feeling a lot better today – he would even dare to say he felt _relaxed_ – and he was ready to take on what the world had to offer. His enlightening talk with Zayn worked wonders on his brain and the delightful 9 hours of sleep he got put Louis in a state of near bliss. At least until now that he hadn’t been in close proximity to Harry, only seeing him when he was putting on his vest. What if he freaked out again when Harry finally returned to take his seat next to him? He couldn’t. He’d have to remain as cool as a cucumber. As a cucumber that Harry would eat. Maybe even lick – if Louis asked nicely.

And then his mind wasn’t picturing a cucumber between Harry’s lips anymore. _Oh boy_.

Just as he was turning to go into the archive room to get his mind off the gutter, he bumped into Harry. Hard enough to feel Harry’s muscles underneath his clothes and to get a massive whiff of his cologne right on his face.

‘I’m sorry,’ Harry mumbled, stepping backwards, which allowed Louis to see his flushed cheeks, now a lovely shade of red.

‘I should’ve watched where I was going,’ Louis replied, not sure if the heat that rose to his neck was due to embarrassment or something else, ‘Oh, thanks for talking to Lily yesterday and for… you know, covering for me.’

Harry nodded, ‘No problem. I’m not sure I managed to convince her, though.’

‘Don’t worry about it,’ Louis chuckled.

‘Were you going somewhere?’ Harry asked, stepping aside to clear Louis’ path to the door.

‘Uh… I was,’ ( _I was trying to calm down from all the mental images you provide my brain with._ ), ‘I was going for a coffee, do you want to join?’

‘Sure.’

They both walked into the archive room and exited through the door leading to the store, their steps falling into perfect coordination as soon as they made a turn and headed for the small café nestled in the store’s corner. Once they reached the counter, Louis asked the girl for two coffees and both boys stood leaning against the counter, waiting for their order.

‘Are you feeling better?’ Harry questioned, his eyes searching Louis’ face for some kind of sign that might confirm the older boy’s condition and finding none. Louis had his poker face on, unlike the day before, when Harry could _clearly_ see that he was struggling with an inner battle, ‘I was going to call you, but decided against it. I thought you… wanted some time alone.’

‘I am better, yeah,’ Louis focused on the small plastic cup that had been set in front of him, feeling that Harry deserved a better answer, a better explanation as to why Louis had acted out like that, ‘My behaviour might have been a bit exaggerated, I’ll admit that. It’s just… something silly, really, but in the heat of the moment, it felt like the worst thing ever,’ he laughed to try and lighten the mood, but Harry just continued watching him whilst taking sips of his own coffee.

‘Do you remember why my buddy, Zayn, got fired?’

‘Yes.’

‘Well, turns out he was the one who quit, because Liam – the guy from Subway, remember him? – went into _manager mode_ on him. Long story short, now Zayn is going to have his art up on the fancy gallery a few blocks from here.’

‘Really? That’s amazing,’ Harry beamed at Louis, ‘Is that why you were acting like that, yesterday?’

‘What? No! I’m very proud of Zayn, he deserves this opportunity,’ Louis paused, realising how much of a _jealous whiny bitch_ he had been. Zayn was getting the recognition he deserved and instead of celebrating and fully supporting his mate, Louis went lashing out at everybody just because he didn’t want to feel left out. Maybe telling Harry about this, wasn’t the brightest idea ever.

‘The thing that set me off was the _lie_ ,’ Louis continued, ‘Why lie to me and tell me you got fired instead of telling me the real thing and save you some future trouble?’

The taller lad looked away from Louis’ eyes and he seemed to be carefully choosing his next words, ‘I see why you were frustrated, but maybe that’s exactly why he didn’t tell you. Because he knew you’d react like that.’

Louis frowned, ‘Is everybody under the impression that I’m a missile or something?’

He didn’t want to go further into this, fearing that it might sparkle a fuse, so he finished his coffee and started his journey back towards the ticket counter. They all seemed to think that Louis was fragile like china and would crack under minimum stress. He was a grown up man who could handle the truth very well – at least when it was said right on the moment and not a couple months later. Harry was following him back towards their work station and when they both settled on their respective seats, he was the one who broke the silence, ‘Louis, you said it yourself. You _overreacted_. But then again, I… I’m sorry, it’s none of my business.’

Louis just wanted to punch Harry right across that beautiful face. The tables were turning and Louis felt a pang of guilt slide down his throat. Harry didn’t have to apologize – _God, why was he always apologizing? –_ especially since Louis had been the one to bring out the whole situation in the first place. He rolled his eyes, shaking his head slightly, ‘Harry, you gentle giant, stop apologizing for everything.’

‘Uh… I’m s--,’

‘No,’ Louis placed his finger on top of Harry’s smooth lips, the sensation making his mind travel a couple of days back to when it had been _his_ _own_ _lips_ touching Harry’s and he almost lost track of his speech, ‘See what I mean? You don’t _always_ have to be sorry. Save ‘em for when you really need them.’

As soon as Louis’ finger left the comfort of Harry’s lips, his tongue lashed out at his lips, licking the place where Louis’ finger had been just seconds ago and this time Louis couldn’t help the barely audible moan that fled from his lips. He tried to mask it with a clear of his throat, but something about the way Harry was staring at him told him that the sound hadn’t gone unnoticed. Louis turned in his seat, facing the counter and rested his elbows on top of it, _trying_ to avoid Harry and the heat radiating off of his body.

 

When their lunchbreak came around, Louis was wrapping up a sale whilst Harry was counting the tickets for the upcoming music festival that had been delivered earlier. Louis stood up, checking the clock hanging on the wall behind them and stretched his back, hearing the pleasant pop that his bones made with the movement.

‘Lunch?’

‘Yeah, just give me a second,’ Harry replied, concentrating on his task.

Louis placed his hands on his vest’s pockets and waited for Harry to finish, humming along to the music blasting from the store’s speakers. He’d gotten so distracted by it that he didn’t notice Harry was now standing in front of him with the tickets in his hand. His incredibly big hand that was holding _at least_ 150 tickets. _Again with these goddamn thoughts_. He wondered if Harry struggled as bad as he did to keep his mind occupied with PG rated things. _Probably not; he’s like a cute baby panda._

‘Is that ok?’

Back to Earth, Louis. ‘Uh… sure.’

What had he just agreed to? Why was Harry grinning at him? He really needed to start focusing more on what the boy had to say or else he’d end up in big trouble. Then again, Louis did nothing else _but_ concentrating on Harry and the whole situation still ended up in a mess.

‘They just recently opened and I stumbled up on it yesterday, when I was heading home. It seemed promising.’

Oh, so they were talking about lunch. ‘Just lead the way.’

They wandered off, leaving behind their vests and picking up wallets and phones on their way out. Since Louis had no idea where they were going, he had to leave it to Harry to guide him, falling out of step every time he made an unexpected turn, until they reached the escalators. There, Louis remained wary about Harry, fearing he might have another panic attack or whatever was it that he had back when they went to Subway for the first time together. Fortunately, everything appeared to be fine, so Louis relaxed as they walked through the mall’s main doors, leading outside. It was sunny, but a gentle cold breeze blew past Louis’ hair as they started walking. The place they were heading was relatively close to the mall and the boys fell into happy banter during the way there.

‘This is it,’ Harry announced, stopping outside a place where a small chalkboard read _“Traditional Spanish Tapas”_.

‘Not bad, Harry,’ Louis looked around the place and it seemed to be quite pleasant. Not to mention exotic. Harry was taking him out for Spanish food. No – not _taking him out_ as in on a date, Louis was aware of that fact. His mind just liked to think it was indeed a date.

They walked inside and took a seat in a little wooden table for two situated in the middle of the establishment, shrugging off their jackets and setting their phones on top of the table. Shortly after, a waiter with a slight accent came up to their table to take their orders – _Calamares a la romana_ for Louis and _Patatas bravas_ for Harry.

‘This looks really good,’ Louis commented, looking at the plate that had been put in front of him. It smelled delicious and it made Louis’ mouth water just from the pure thought of having such delicious looking food in his mouth. 

‘It smells amazing too,’ Harry said, also looking at the plate in front of him, ‘Though these are appetizers, so we might have to order again.’

‘As long as they keep the good stuff coming, it’s fine by me,’ Louis laughed, picking up a piece of bread from the basket on their table.

Harry joined his laugh and Louis watched as he poked a potato with his fork and lifted it up to his lips, leaving a few droplets of sauce on his lips that were quickly gone after that skilled tongue of his snaked out to lick the remains. _Quit staring, Louis_. But he couldn’t; it was like a car crash, you just can’t look away.

‘Oh my god,’ Harry breathed, eyes wide, ‘This sure is spicy.’

The boy was fanning his hand in front of his lips, pursed in an “o” shape and Louis couldn’t help the laugh that emerged out of him, ‘Can’t handle the heat?’

Harry frowned at Louis, taking a generous swig from his beer bottle, which only made Louis laugh harder, popping some calamari inside his mouth and relishing in the feeling that the wonderful food mixed with the bliss of beginning to finally feel like his normal self around Harry again brought him. The younger boy was finally calming down from the sudden burst of flames on his tongue and poked a few more potatoes with his fork, making sure to get them soaked in the sauce scattered around the plate.

‘Why don’t you try it and we’ll see if you can handle it?’ he held out his fork, smirking at Louis.

‘That’s not fair, you only had one with a few drops of sauce!’

‘Are you gonna chicken out?’ Harry clung to the spark of bravery inside of him, feeling adventurous and not wanting to let the opportunity to tease Louis slip away.

Louis snorted, raising his eyebrows at the boy sitting in front of him, ‘I don’t _chicken out_ of anything. I could eat all of those and not even twitch a muscle.’

‘£10 says you don’t,’ Harry enticed, the smirk never leaving his features.

Louis put his hand out and Harry shook on it, before handing Louis the fork, their fingers brushing accidentally against each other. Louis looked at the potatoes on the fork and immediately regretted his call. He opened his mouth and plopped the food inside, starting to chew it very slowly. At first he just felt the smoothness of the potatoes and the unmistakable flavour of some spices, but as he swallowed down the food, a bonfire erupted at the back of his tongue and followed the food down its path towards Louis’ stomach. He squinted his eyes and felt the wetness starting to form there due to the heat roaring inside of his mouth.

‘Holy fucking shit,’ Louis spoke up through Harry’s laughter, feeling like he was spitting out fire with his every word, ‘This thing’s hotter than a freaking volcano in the middle of Hell.’

‘I guess lunch is on you,’ Harry said, grinning like a kid who just found out he’s having ice cream for dinner.

Louis gulped down half of his beer – which partially made it worse, the sourness of the beer mixing in with the heat, enlightening it even more, before the coolness of the drink finally settled and calmed down the fire. He looked at Harry and sighed deeply, before splitting into a grin that matched Harry’s, which made them start laughing again.

After ordering another round of tapas and falling into a pleasant conversation, the boys payed the check and walked out of the restaurant with half an hour to kill before their lunch time was over.

‘How was your time in uni?’ Louis questioned Harry as they walked on the sidewalk of the busy street, ‘I mean, do you miss being there?’

‘Not really. I enjoyed my time there, but to be honest with you, I was done with all the studying and the exams.’

‘So there was no heavy partying and drinking? The occasional hook-up?’, Louis nudged Harry in the ribs, wiggling his eyebrows at him.

Harry’s cheeks acquired that lovely shade of red again and he let out a breathy laugh at the ground, before looking up and answering, ‘No, no partying and no hooking up. A couple of beers here and there, but that’s about it.’

Louis nodded with a smile still on his face. They found themselves walking into a park and wordlessly aimed for the empty children’s playground.

‘You and Zayn,’ Harry started, taking a seat in one of the swings, ‘You’ve been friends for a while?’

‘Since high school,’ Louis pondered, sitting down on the swing next to Harry’s, ‘I guess you could say a long time.’

‘And you’ve always been _just_ friends?’

Louis frowned at Harry. Was he asking if he had been romantically involved with Zayn? _Yes, Louis. Plain and flat._ Then his mouth curled in disgust at the sheer thought of it – not that he didn’t find Zayn attractive, he just didn’t look at him in _that_ way. Ew.

‘No! God, no, Harry. Zayn and I, we’re like brothers. That’s it.’

‘I- I’m sorry, that was a stupid question,’ the boy fidgeted his feet on the grass, shaking his head at his own stupidity.

‘It’s alright,’ Louis assured, reaching out to pat Harry’s shoulder – _and what a shoulder!_

An awkward silence started descending upon them, leaving both boys to move around nervously, each waiting for the other to say something and break that palpable tension that had formed in the meantime. Louis wanted to be the one to break it and ask Harry about his dating history, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. If it was someone else, he’d have no problem doing it, maybe even include a little tease in there, but this was _Harry_ and for some reason, Louis’ mind was blocked and out of any topics to bring up. Unconsciously, he started humming the tune that had been stuck on his head since the tapas’ place and swinging slowly, making his soles scrape against the grass beneath him. Harry sniggered beside him, causing Louis to look up and stop his movements, ‘What?’

‘You do that a lot you know?’ Harry spoke, looking right into Louis’ eyes with a sort of glee on his own, ‘Humming and tapping your fingers to the beat.’

‘Oh,’ Louis mumbled in realisation and tried to supress the fact that Harry noticed these tiny things that Louis did – so maybe he also noticed _other_ things about him, ‘Does it bother you?’

‘Nope, I think it’s cute.’

Louis bit his lip to supress a grin, but couldn’t help the smile that formed on his face. This boy was giving him some serious mixed signals; he (1) told him they shouldn’t make a big deal of the kiss, making (2) Louis think there was no sign of attraction or romantic interest coming from his side and (3) was now taking Louis out, teasing him and calling his tics _“cute”_. Harry sure was a box full of surprises.

Since they were due to start working in 10 minutes, they started making their way back to the store, this time making small talk between them. The rest of the day was relatively calm, with the exception of the quirky old lady that had shown up to buy festival tickets and had ended up staying in there for a solid 10 minutes chat with both of them – a flirtatious chat that earned them several invitations to join the nice old lady in the festival, something that they politely turned down. By 4pm, Louis waved goodbye to Harry and headed home, where he collapsed on the couch and started going through his phone. He stumbled upon a picture that his friend, Niall, had posted and decided to call him as it had been a while since they last spoke. _Since that day with Harry_. Niall answered the call on the fourth ring and Louis pressed the “ _speaker”_ option, setting his phone next to him on the couch.

‘Well, well, well, if it isn’t my friend Niall,’ Louis greeted.

_‘Nice to hear from you, Louis. That is, after going MIA for God-knows-how-long.’_

‘I know, I know… Sorry, kiddo. But fill me in on the good stuff.’

_‘The good stuff? Uh… I scored a gig on that upcoming festival, you must know about it. Nothing big, just at the side stage. I’m performing during the afternoon, so it’s not like I’ll be famous after that.’_

‘You kidding, lad?’ Louis beamed, ‘Those are fantastic news!’

_‘Ah yeah, well… Liam told me about Zayn’s art expo, are you going?’_

‘Of course, how about you?’

 _‘Obviously! We could go together so that I don’t make a fool out of myself, ‘cause my knowledge about art is quite limited,’_ Niall laughed lightly.

‘We’re on the same boat, buddy,’ Louis breathed, ‘Let’s go together, it’s settled. Hey we gotta schedule something before that, you know, for a little catch up?’

_‘Definitely. How about tomorrow? We could go for a run, like in the old days?’_

Louis quirked his eyebrows at the suggestion, ‘I’m game. Let’s see if we can still go 2 miles nonstop.’

_‘Hell yeah we can! Alright, I’ll text you the details tomorrow. I gotta run, my shift’s about to start.’_

‘Go fold those t-shirts like no one else can, Niall,’ Louis joked and hung up the phone after they had their goodbyes.

He slumped down further into the couch and tossed his phone onto the seat next to him. His friends were working towards their life goals and were achieving great things and then, there was Louis. He wasn’t doing anything with his life that would amount to something memorable and he was feeling like he was falling behind in his small group of friends. He was happy for them, but there was also that slight twinge of jealously that boiled in his insides and that made him moody and grumpy – the _worst_ kind of Louis. Washing off the thoughts running through his head, Louis stood up and removed his jacket, hanging it in the coat hanger next to his bed.

 

The next day, as promised, Niall had texted Louis the location and the time for their run and as soon as he got home, Louis went in the bathroom for a quick shower to get rid of some of the tiredness of that day – their section had been overflowing with people trying to purchase tickets, which barely gave Harry and Louis any time to breath, let alone _talk_ to each other. When he climbed out of the shower, he threw on his underwear, a pair of socks, his running shorts and an old grey t-shirt. A couple of minutes went by before Louis was ready to leave the house, stuffing his headphones into his pocket and deciding to take the stairs down, instead of the lift – _since I’ll be exercising anyway_. He met up with Niall at the entrance of the park nearby, where they used to go running a while back, both boys taking their time to stretch their muscles before setting off into the trail that stretched alongside the creek.

It didn’t take them long to complete the 2 miles and reach the end of the trail, deciding to stop and gather their breaths before they started making their way back. Louis was leaning against the drinking fountain, wiping the beads of sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, whilst Niall stood in the middle of the dirt trail, his hands on his hips and his breathing heavy. Above them the sky was turning into a degrade of blue and blending with shades of light purple and pink, which emphasized the moon that stood far away, marvellous in its white colour.

When his breathing was almost back to normal, Louis drank from the fountain he was leaning on, to ease the dryness of his throat, soon followed by Niall, who approached the fountain and leaned down to drink from it.

‘You’re ready to go?’ Niall asked, wiping away the droplets of water from around his mouth.

‘Yeah,’ Louis replied, looking around them at the quick darkening place, ‘Should we take it slower this time?’

‘Why? Can’t handle a little run anymore, Tomlinson?’ Niall smirked.

Louis scowled at him, ‘I was concerned for your own safety, _Nigel_. I don’t want you passing out mid running.’

Niall laughed at that and they both started running back to the place they had met up half an hour ago. Since they had slowed down their pace they were able to keep an easy conversation floating between them, cracking a few jokes along the way and soon enough, they were back at the now empty park entrance, their breathing out of a normal pace, but not as rapid as it had been when they first stopped.

‘I mean, it was a fluke,’ Niall continued his story on how he had gotten the gig, ‘Right before I went on to audition for a spot, I look down and there’s a four leaf clover right in front of my feet. That’s gotta be fate, you know.’

Louis laughed a little at Niall’s superstitions. He could’ve blamed it on the clover, but Louis knew that Niall had earned the chance to perform with his own talent. Nevertheless, he continued listening to Niall’s story, after both of them had decided to take a seat on one of the green benches in the park.

‘It’s the whole fame, wealth, lover and health thing and right before I got the place, it’s unreal,’ Niall proceeded and Louis shook his head with a little chuckle.

Niall went on about how it all had been a conspiracy of the universe and Louis’ brain started shutting down – not because he didn’t care for what Niall was telling him, but because the street lamps had switched on and it brought his attention to a couple of figures sitting down at the esplanade of the restaurant across the park. The boy sitting down with his back turned to Louis look _a lot_ like Harry, judging by his stance and the outlines of his body, with his broad shoulders and his curly hair. He seemed to have company, but Louis couldn’t see the other person since Harry was blocking his view, but he was determined to confirm whether it was Harry or not so he kept his gaze focused on the figure in the distance.

‘Yeah, I could go for some food as well,’ Niall piped up when he caught sight of what had gotten Louis in such a deep trance, ‘But maybe something lighter than what they serve there… I like to keep my food in my stomach, thank you.’

Louis only caught about half of what Niall had said and he adverted his gaze from the figures to read the name of the restaurant. It was Mexican food and he had to agree with Niall; after a long run he was in no mood for exotic food, but he was willing to go to the place just to see if it _really_ was Harry.

‘Alright, listen,’ Niall said after checking his phone, ‘I really have to go and shower before my date, so are you…’

‘You have a date?’ Louis chimed in with a grin on his face.

‘Yeah, dinner and movie.’

‘Go on then, don’t want to be late for the party,’ Louis said, patting Niall’s shoulder, propping him to go.

Niall stood up and looked back at Louis, ‘Sure don’t. You want me to drive you home?’

Louis shook his head and thanked his mate for his concern, both of them said their goodbyes before he was alone in the bench in the middle of the dimly lit park. The figures were still there, apparently engrossed in an amused conversation and the sheer possibility of it being Harry sitting there with someone else other than him was driving Louis towards the brink of insanity. He had to go and sort out his doubts. So he stood up and started walking towards the gate at the park’s entrance, where he got a better view of the whole scene, but also a new perspective that allowed him to confirm that it _was_ indeed Harry who was sitting there, his unmistakable profile that was now carved deep into Louis’ brain after all the glances he had stolen at Harry when they were sitting behind that god forsaken counter, but he still couldn’t confirm who was the mysterious person sitting in front of him.

As Louis squinted his eyes to try and get a better look, hoping that Harry would _just move his head out of the way_ , he felt ridiculous. Standing in the middle of the sidewalk in is sweaty clothes, spying on his _co-worker_ and trying to ignore the monster that had risen inside of him and was now coating his insides with jealously – definitely ridiculous, borderline _stalker_. Louis couldn’t help it though; he took a step to the right just as Harry leaned back on his chair to laugh at something that had been said. And then he saw it. He saw who was sitting down in front of Harry, making him laugh like there was no tomorrow, over a meal of _exotic food_ – it felt like a weird déjà vu. The light of the neon sign with the name of the restaurant was reflected in his ginger hair and pale face; Ian stood there with Harry and Louis felt his heart drop as he watched from the sidewalk across the street, almost like a spectator in someone else’s memories. He clenched his jaw at the sight before him and turned on his heel, the cold of the night perforating his lungs as he walked as fast as he could to his apartment building.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is always appreciated! 
> 
> I honestly hope you're liking this story so far and like I said in the last chapter there are two more chapters to come, so stick around for those :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is unbeta'd, so like in the other chapters, I take full responsibility of any mistakes.
> 
> I hope you like it!

It had been a busy morning for Louis.

When he arrived at the store, early in the morning, there had been already a queue of people waiting to get their hands on the remaining tickets for the music festival, which made Louis rub his temples in frustration, because there was no way in hell he was going to be able to handle all of those people with a polite smile on his face when deep down all he wanted to do was strangle the person that would be standing next to him - _Harry_. He walked inside, preparing for the worst and stood behind the counter, waiting for the store’s doors to open. By the looks of it, there wouldn’t be any spare tickets by the end of the day and Louis still needed to acquire one for himself, so he drew out his wallet and placed the money on the register, before stuffing one of the tickets in his jeans’ pocket. When he was closing the register, Louis felt a presence in front of him and after looking up, he found Lily standing on the other side of the counter – _Shit!_

‘Good morning, Louis,’ she said, resting her hands on the counter, ‘Seems like it’s going to be busy around here.’

‘Nothing I can’t handle,’ Louis replied nonchalantly, hoping she wouldn’t lash out at him for his previous actions.

‘That’s great,’ she nodded, ‘Since Harry won’t be here to help you.’

‘He what?’

‘Harry called in to change his shift for the afternoon,’ Lily explained, ‘Since it was on such short notice I couldn’t get in touch with someone else to help you. But if you need help, I’ll be happy to provide.’

She left with a light tap on the counter and soon after, people were starting to line up in front of it. Louis was stunned, his mouth still slightly parted as an aftermath of the news he had just received. Why did Harry change his shift? The gears in his brain were turning fast and a quick glance at Ian’s station confirmed that he wasn’t there either.

_So both bastards go missing after what seemed like a lovely date yesterday. Fan-fucking-tastic._

It’s not that it was Louis’ business, but he couldn’t help and assume the absolute worst about them, every single scenario passing through his mind, each adding up to the strong desire he had of start throwing punches all around. Not literally though – Louis was a strong believer in the no-violence thing. Meanwhile he had to fake a smile and push down all his anger to properly serve the costumers in front of him, hoping that his shift would come to an end before he even knew it.

After lunch the station had gone back to its normal quietness, the tickets now sold out and Louis standing there eyeing Ian’s station for any signs that he was back to work. Both Ian and Harry had been absent all morning – too much of a coincidence, just like when Louis and Harry had decided to skip work after that wonderful night.

Being so caught up in his thoughts, Louis didn’t register the presence beside him until the familiar smell of Harry’s cologne reached his nostrils and he gave Harry a pointed look, to which the boy responded by furrowing his brows.

‘Hey,’ Harry warily greeted, ‘I’m sorry for leaving you alone with all that fuss, but I had to…’

‘Save it,’ Louis interrupted, looking straight ahead and effectively avoiding Harry’s gaze, ‘Keep the apologies for Ian’s boyfriend.’

‘What?’

Louis ignored him. He hadn’t meant to say that last bit aloud, but it escaped through his lips so easily and naturally that made him not care about keeping a cool façade around Harry. So, throwing caution to the wind, Louis turned to Harry and spat out rather viciously, ‘You heard me. Was he there with you and Ian, last night? You’re going to share, now?’

‘How do you know about last night?’

‘I just know, alright,’ Louis rolled his eyes in exasperation, ‘I _saw_ you there with Ian at that Mexican place. You two looked quite cosy.’

‘Louis, we went out for a drink, that’s all.’ Harry explained with a sigh, ‘And, no offense, but I don’t see how that’s any of your business. Last time I checked this was still a free country.’

Louis raised his eyebrows at Harry’s response and turned back to the counter, ‘None taken.’

It was hard having to pretend that Louis wasn’t fazed by the whole thing when deep down, feelings of jealousy and hurt were flooding both his mind and heart. On the other hand, Harry was right; Louis had nothing to do with it and they were both full grown adults, so they were fully capable of taking their own decisions – _very dumb decisions_. With a sigh, Louis finished typing the respective information on the store’s data base, whilst Harry sat down next to him and started busying himself with work. Thank God Louis’ shift would be over soon and he wouldn’t have to deal with Harry until Monday, since he had the weekend off (much to Lily’s dismay, because _“You should stay and make up for the days you were absent”_ ) and it would give him plenty of free time to set his mind straight and distract himself from the entire thing. Plus, tomorrow was Zayn’s big gallery event and Louis felt a spark of hope flutter inside of him at the thought that he could find something to keep his mind busy – or _someone_.

To hell with Harry and his date with Ian and his non-existing feelings towards Louis.

 

Saturday morning proved to be the start of a promising day. When Louis woke up there were glorious rays of sunlight on top of his duvet and the sky outside was one of a light blue that blended in with the small clouds scattered everywhere. He made himself chocolate chip pancakes and ate as he watched a re-run of his favourite show on the telly – distracting enough to make him forget about Harry, Ian and all the worries out there. As he was heading out to buy bread at the bakery just down the block, Louis found £2 sitting on top of his doorway rug and, with a smug smile, picked it up, thinking to himself that luck just might be on his side today.

The afternoon had gone by smoothly and surprisingly quickly, after Louis had decided to make the most of his motivation and set off to clean his house, the unmistakable sounds of Bastille blasting through his headphones. After everything was acceptably clean and shiny, Louis picked out his outfit and ventured for a rather long shower, enjoying the feeling of the warm water on his skin, washing away any concern and relaxing the muscles underneath.

By the time Niall had arrived to Louis’ flat, already dressed up and ready for Zayn’s expo, Louis was sat at the edge of his bed, finishing lacing up his shoes. The blonde lad had busied himself exploring Louis’ shelves, apparently looking for something in particular. He came up with a bottle of whiskey that Louis had acquired not long ago, but still hadn’t managed to get a hold of yet, and fished out two glasses, pouring a double scotch for each of them.

‘Just a little kick-starter for the night, what do you say?’ Niall winked at him as he handed Louis his glass. They clinked glasses before downing the drink, both of them pulling a face at the pang it left behind.

‘I think this is more than a kick-starter,’ Louis said, standing up and gathering his belongings whilst Niall put away the bottle and the glasses with a laugh.

Once they were at the art gallery and after purchasing their tickets, Louis and Niall started walking around the different divisions, all of them filled with artwork that – Louis had to admit – was intriguing and captivating at the same time. Maybe the whiskey had let out the lover of the arts in him. In the upper floor, they came across Liam, who was holding a champagne flute in his hand, whilst observing the scene across the room. Zayn was standing there, chatting up a group of three men whilst gesturing towards the paintings around him.

‘Zayn’s got buyers in his net already?’ Niall questioned, also eyeing Zayn.

‘No, those are some of the other artists who are also showcased here,’ Liam explained, turning to look at Niall and Louis. ‘They’re talking about art and paint and themes and… It was getting kind of boring, so I politely retreated myself.’

‘And by that you mean you simply walked away,’ Louis said with a grin.

‘Pretty much,’ Liam admitted.

‘Liam, you’re missing the beauty of it. Look at all this talent around you,’ Niall spoke in a hushed voice, ‘I mean, that one over there sure is… _something_. What is that? Is it a girl… or a… frog?’

They turned to look at where Niall was directing his gaze, Louis seizing the opportunity to grab two flutes of champagne from a waiter passing by and handing one to Niall.

‘It looks like a bridge to me,’ Louis said, squinting his eyes at the painting in question.

‘That is clearly a tree. You know, like a tree that blooms into something else and…’ Liam trailed off, tilting his head to get a better look at it.

‘Yeah… I got nothing for what the hell that thing might be.’ Niall concluded, sipping on his champagne. ‘Now, I’m going to have to leave you ladies, because I just spotted a work of art that I wouldn’t mind spending the night figuring out.’

Niall set off, making a beeline towards a short girl who was standing near Zayn and his group of artsy people. It was just Louis and Liam now, standing near the railing of the balcony that allowed a peek at the downstairs floor, where in the centre of the room had been set up a small platform for a string quartet that was bringing the gallery to life with its edgy take on classical music. Unconsciously, Louis’ fingers started tapping against his flute to the beat of the music.

‘Have you seen Harry?’ Liam asked, out of the blue, catching Louis off-guard.

‘No. Why, is he here?’ Louis looked around, trying to remain calm and steadying his heartbeat.

‘I don’t know. I invited him and he said he’d come,’ Liam replied, eyeing Louis cautiously, as if he knew the damage he could potentially be causing in the other lad.

‘Why’d you invite him?’ Louis spat, barely controlling the rising of his tone.

‘Why not? The more, the merrier.’ Liam furrowed his brow at Louis, ‘Besides, I didn’t think it would get your knickers in a twist.’

But it did. Not the fact that Harry _might_ be in the building – Louis’ heart made a somersault at the possibility – but the fact that Harry might be in the building _with that son of a bitch, Ian_ – Louis’ heart contracted a bit at that scenario.

‘It doesn’t,’ he replied a little too late, ‘Oh shut it, Liam.’

Louis left Liam and that stupid smug smile on his face behind and went up for a chat with Zayn, whose face seemed a little desperate for a rescue from the growing group of people interested in talking about art. After excusing himself from the conversation, Zayn pulled Louis to the side and the lads shared a hug.

‘Congrats, man,’ Louis said, patting Zayn’s cheek softly.

Zayn smiled as a way of acknowledgement before looking over at Liam, prompting him to join them. Louis felt like he should leave both boys to themselves, to enjoy each other’s company – not that he didn’t feel at ease when they were gathered up, but this was Zayn’s night and he was probably dying to spend some time with Liam and share a couple of words with him, so Louis left them to it and started wandering around the art gallery, visiting the rooms he still hadn’t been in, picking up another glass of champagne on the way. The prospect of Harry being there was still floating on the back of his mind and it made Louis feel uneasy, because _what if they ran into each other?_ That would most certainly be awkward. In order to avoid such situation, Louis sneaked a glance behind his back, making sure the hallway leading to the room he had just walked into was a Harry-free zone.

Turning back to start inspecting the room, Louis’ eyes landed on none other than Harry, getting himself a glass of champagne from a waiter passing by, looking very elegant in his black attire and rather _merry_ – if the over exaggerated “thank you” he threw the waiter meant something. Other than that, Harry seemed to be alone, no signs of the ginger headed kid in sight, which made a smile creep onto Louis’ features, as his feet started dragging him towards Harry, almost by free will.

‘Louis!’ Harry greeted, opening his arms out for Louis to step into and pulling him flush against his own body. Louis was taken by surprise at the sudden contact, but not that he was complaining; he could feel _everything_. He felt the heat emanating through Harry’s body, the muscles that twitched beneath his shirt and the swerve of cologne that made Louis feel lightheaded for a second, before Harry backed off, sporting a genuine grin on his face.

‘Hi, Harry,’ Louis stuttered, still not over the sensations running through his veins.

‘I’m so glad I found you here,’ Harry smiled, ‘I feel like there are things that need to be… solved between us…?’

Louis furrowed his brow, ‘Are there?’

Of course – _Ian_.

‘Yeah… well, yesterday we weren’t exactly the best of friends,’ Harry rolled his eyes in what felt like an over exaggerated way, ‘But the deal with Ian… Louis, we went out for a drink. As friends.’

‘Okay,’ Louis dragged out the word, squinting his eyes at Harry’s current condition. Was he drunk on _champagne_?

‘Everything’s fine!’ Harry cheered, catching the attention of several people in the room and Louis grabbed his forearm, pulling him towards the hallway where a few people were observing the orchestra downstairs.

‘You’re saying you and Ian are friends?’

‘Indeed. I’ve been serving as a… some sort of adviser,’ Harry wiggled his eyebrows, ‘He’s planning a romantic trip with his boyfriend and he came to me for help.’

‘That doesn’t make any sense, Harry,’ Louis scoffed.

‘Well, I helped him and he helped me. Fair trade, no?’

‘Helped you with what? Your drinking problem?’ Louis pointed, grabbing Harry’s glass from his hand – which earned him an annoyed moan – and setting it on the window’s ledge, just out of Harry’s reach.

‘I don’t have a drinking problem,’ the boy said with resentment.

‘No, you don’t. Not the bad kind, at least, but you sure can’t handle a couple of drinks,’ Louis retorted, looking Harry straight in the eyes, ‘You got drunk on what, _two_ glasses?’

‘I’m not drunk,’ Harry protested with a very drunken hiccup.

Louis rolled his eyes at Harry. His brain was still processing the information that had spilled out of Harry’s plump lips. Ian and Harry were friends having a drink and sharing relationship advises? It was even weirder when you put it like that, but for his mind’s sake, Louis decided to believe it. Harry, who was currently swaying lightly to the music with a dreamy look on his face, looked down at Louis – _literally_ had to look down, because he was like 10 feet – and smiled at him; a smile that soon turned into a smirk that made Louis’ insides boil.

‘Then what does Ian help you with?’ he continued the conversation, realizing they had left it hanging halfway through due to the distractions they were causing.

Harry feigned a pensive look for a few seconds – and managed to look adorable whilst doing so – before replying, as if a lightbulb had just appeared above his head, ‘He helps me with you.’

‘What?’

Harry hummed in confirmation, ‘You were so oblivious to everything I did, so I resorted to some outside advice.’

No, this wasn’t real. Harry was drunk and he didn’t know what he was saying. Louis couldn’t allow himself to fall in that trap again, it was merely an illusion caused by slurred words from a drunk Harry. It wasn’t real.

_Oops, too late._

‘Me? So you’re saying you…’

‘I’m saying I’ve been trying to get your attention,’ Harry spoke, seeming to sober up a little with the weight of the confession, ‘You were either ignoring me or you genuinely didn’t realize what I was doing.’

‘You weren’t the most direct person out there, so don’t blame me for not taking a hint,’ Louis retorted.

‘You couldn’t take the hint even if it was all wrapped up in a present and delivered to your doorstep,’ Harry laughed which only spurred Louis’ annoyance at the whole thing.

Felling like there was a tornado storming through his mind, Louis burst out every single thing that was spinning around in his fruitcake, ‘I don’t get it. You say you were making all these advances on me, giving me all of these hints, but when we had that conversation back in the park, you didn’t seem too inclined on pursuing anything else with me. Then why the hell are you doing all of _this_ now? Why not back then?’

The argument was starting to get fierier and Louis decided to take it outside, since the hallway of an art gallery probably wasn’t the best place to go through all of the repressed anger and unanswered questions he wanted to throw at Harry. They walked outside, after Louis had gently tugged on Harry’s sleeve and nudged his head towards the exit, and were enveloped in the cold breeze of the night that made their breaths smoke out of their noses.

Louis felt bad for bringing up the entire _kiss_ thing, it made him feel like he was stuck in that memory and couldn’t let go no matter how much he wanted to, but right now, if Harry was going to spill the beans, Louis was going to make sure he spilled them all.

‘Right,’ Louis restarted his rant, ‘Why now?’

Harry was giggling at him, reminding Louis of a 5-year-old who couldn’t keep his giggles in upon serious matters and it was making him really mad at Harry because what was there to giggle about? Here he was, confronting Harry with all the weight that been on his shoulders and his response was to _giggle_ at him, like he wasn’t taking any of this seriously.

‘Ah Louis,’ Harry spoke in an evasive tone, ‘Why do you have to get so caught up on those silly questions? Who cares? Live for the now, for this moment, for me standing here, in front of you and telling you how I feel about you.’

Maybe having this conversation with Harry in his current drunken condition wasn’t the most reasonable thing to do; Louis should probably wait until he had sobered up and get back on with it, in the hopes of getting better answers out of the taller lad instead of the loopholes he was providing him with. He resigned with a sigh and was about to tell Harry to postpone the conversation for some other day when he cupped Louis’ face with his large hands, standing a few inches away from Louis, who could feel Harry’s hot breath fanning against his eyelashes and the bridge of his nose. Suddenly he felt like he was floating through space, surrounded by all of the planets and their pretty colours and the stars shining in a close proximity and almost didn’t catch Harry’s next words.

‘Louis, I like you. It’s more than that, actually. I have feelings for you and I guess that day I was so afraid you were going to shut me down that I decided to do it first. It was probably one of the worst decisions in my life, but I tried to take it back and look for a sign that what I felt was requited,’ he paused, searching Louis’ face for some kind of an answer, one that he couldn’t provide right now, because he was so caught up in the moment and his brain could barely function, filled with everything that was Harry related and the fact that he was so close – he was _right there_ – but still not close enough and it was driving Louis insane.

He leaned forward and pressed their lips together with a kind of urgency that he hoped would make up for lost time and would translate all of the thoughts running unrestrained in his mind. For the second time, he felt Harry’s smooth lips moving against his and his features softened, letting go of all that weight and all those concerns and _what if_ s, focusing on his intention of tasting Harry, parting his lips with his tongue and having a taste of the alcohol that was still swimming in Harry’s mouth alongside a pang of mint that mixed marvellously together. Harry was also exploring Louis’ mouth, deepening the kiss and adding an extra meaning to it which made Louis cling to the hem of his shirt for some sort of stability and assurance that his feet would stay on the ground. They both pulled away panting, resting their foreheads together with their eyes closed, coming down from the intensity of it all.

Suddenly, there it was – Harry’s giggle. It felt so inappropriate at a time like this, that Louis couldn’t help but chuckle himself at how ridiculous it all felt. They were standing in the middle of the brightly lit street, in each other’s embrace, laughing at everything and nothing, without a single care in the world, because right now, all they cared about was holding each other and touching each other as much as they could, going back for another kiss, this time slower.

‘Can we go somewhere private?’

Louis looked up at Harry’s eyes, blown wide with lust and grinned, ‘My place, sounds good?’

Harry nodded, leaning down for another kiss before they reluctantly let go of each other and started walking, side by side, to Louis’ place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's one more chapter left, so if you've made it this far, just stick with me for a little longer :)
> 
> I really hope you like the direction this is taking and I appreciate all of the feedback and just the sheer fact that someone actually took time to read this - thank you, really.
> 
> The rating has been moved up a bit due to future actions, nothing too detailed or whatever, but it'll be there. I'll probably add more tags as I go, as well (let me know if you think there are some tags that I should include, because I feel like I'm awful at tagging).
> 
> xx


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